Tonight's sixth week of WWE NXT Season Two started with the reworked WWE TV intro with the new voice-overs, removal of Jim Ross's voice, and insertion of Michael Cole's voice. From a stylistic perspective, Cole's voice doesn't fit in the series of signature catchphrases.

Video opening: They aired an ominous video package posing questions on what the Nexus group has in mind for the show as they return home to NXT tonight.

In-ring: Michael Cole introduced the show from ringside before sending it to Matt Striker and Ashley Valence in the ring. Striker and Ashley took turns introducing the NXT Season Two Pros, starting with Mark Henry, then John Morrison (who was selling his Nexus beating on Raw the previous night), then Cody Rhodes. Zack Ryder, MVP, and The Miz rounded out the field. Cole with a Denny Crum reference on Miz to play up his "greatest coach ever" gimmick on NXT. So Lay-Cool here.

The Nexus group was then introduced and they assembled on the other side of the stage opposite the Pros. Striker and Valence introduced them by name, which seemed to take away some of their "rebellious" steam. Wade Barrett took the mic and said he's looking forward to seeing the Season 2 Rookies in action tonight. He turned his attention to the Season 2 Pros and said he hopes they don't plan on any funny business tonight because they're just here to watch.

In-ring: Cue up The Miz's theme music for the opening match. Miz walked down from the stage with Alex Riley for an opening tag match. Cue up Mark Henry's theme music to bring out his Rookie, Lucky Cannon. Henry stomped down to the ring with Lucky as Henry sold disdain with Miz over his attack on Raw the previous night. Plenty of combustible elements in play following Raw.

1 -- MARK HENRY & LUCKY CANNON vs. U.S. champion THE MIZ & ALEX RILEY

Henry started the match for the babyface tandem and Miz declined to start opposite Henry. Henry then manhandled Riley and flung him to the outside, showing aggression after Miz's attack on Raw. Miz berated Riley for screwing up, then Henry went back to work on Riley and told Miz to tag in. Miz backed away, so Henry tagged in Lucky Cannon. Cannon and Riley went back and forth before Cannon knocked Riley to the outside. Cannon tried a plancha on the floor, but airballed and ate the ring steps. Both Rookies sold on the outside as they cut to break.

[Commercial Break]

Back from break, Miz finally entered the match and tagged in and out with Riley to work over Cannon. Miz continued to avoid Henry in the process. Mathews then referenced Cole's voice being in the WWE TV opening now, so he must think he's a big shot talking tag team strategy. The announcers continued to talk up Miz's new aggressiveness heading into the Money in the Bank PPV.

[Q2] Miz lost control of Cannon and Henry tagged in to finally get a piece of Miz. Henry beat down Miz until Miz fell into his corner to tag in Riley. Poor Riley was scooped up into the air by Henry, who dropped him center-ring with the World's Strongest Slam. There's the pin and the win. Post-match: Henry wasn't done, as he went to ringside to retrieve a strategically-placed trashcan. Henry then dumped the contents of the trashcan over Riley's fallen body. Miz simply backed away from ringside and opted to pick up the battle Sunday at the PPV. To add insult to injury, WWE kept the cameras focused on the ring for a while showing Riley covered in trash before they went to a video package on Riley.

WINNERS: Henry & Cannon in 12:00. We know Henry won't be winning MITB now. Fine tag match with a good story carrying over from Raw. (*1/4)

NXT Rookie Video: In the sit-down evaluation interviews, the Pros started by laughing as they broke down Alex Riley's cocky character. Zack Ryder quietly said Riley needs to get over being cool in high school. Cody Rhodes mocked his attire with the letterman jacket. There's a Varsity Club joke in here somewhere. Coincidentally, Rhodes's Rookie is the son of Rotunda. Henry said he's all show and no go. Rhodes said he thinks Riley is playing a character rather than being a character. Miz put over his mic skills. Kofi said at least the crowd is reacting. Miz then closed by saying he knows Riley will be the next breakout star.

Still to come: The Showtime Percy Watson Show.

[Commercial Break]

MITB video: They went back to WrestleMania 26 just a few months ago to recap the latest installment of the MITB match, showing Jack Swagger win the briefcase. This was followed by a recap of Swagger cashing in on Chris Jericho the Smackdown after WM26 to become new World Hvt. champion.

Announcers: Cole and Mathews broke down the MITB PPV line-up, promising something historic will happen on Sunday. It's similar to that "anything can happen" tagline for last month's Fatal Four-Way PPV.

On-stage: Cole said the main reason for the cage match between John Cena and Sheamus is because of the Nexus group, which they showed on the stage. ... Raw recap: Cole and Mathews recapped the end of Raw when the Nexus group hit finishers on Cena to win the handicap match before Cena no-sold everything and cleared Nexus with Sheamus's help. Cole and Mathews tried to sell the PPV with Cena and Sheamus supposed to be opposite each other while being aligned on Raw. "It's all about the WWE Championship," Cole said, trying to convince anyone, someone that it's about the title on Sunday. Too many mixed signals on the final PPV sales pitch from the Raw brand.

Up next: Percy Watson's talk show.

[Q3]

[Commercial Break]

Video package: WWE sold the audience on the Elimination Chamber PPV coming up on Sunday...oh wait, it's MITB on Sunday and the EC DVD out now. Triple H had a voice-over, as did Jim Ross. The DVD has every EC match in WWE history. Too many gimmicks being thrown at the audience.

In-ring: Percy Watson was in the ring with some couches and a red carpet for his talk show segment. They had a great "talk show" graphic of Watson's silhouette doing the "Oh Yeah" gesture inside an exclamation mark. Watson then brought out MVP as his guest for the show. They took seats on the couches before Watson asked if he could borrow $20. MVP said they'll talk later. Watson put over MVP, who told Watson to listen and execute what he tells him. MVP told the audience to give Watson a round of applause for applying his advice. Watson has great timing with his little mannerisms. Watson said he's going to seize the moment right now.

Suddenly, the rest of the Season 2 Rookies stomped out to the ring looking for a fight. "Sorry it has to be like this, P," Watson said. MVP said he never goes to a party alone. Out came the NXT Season 2 Pros for a big stand-off. Matt Striker then walked out and played booker declaring an over-the-top-rope battle royal. Nexus's Wade Barrett interrupted to tell Striker he forget the best part, the Nexus. Barrett said Darren Young isn't here tonight, but they want to be part of the party. Barrett said there will be one winner of the battle royal, Wade Barrett. Striker made it official: 20-man battle royal next. Nexus stomped out to the ring as they cut to break.

[Commercial Break. Yes, jackwagon!]

[Q4]

2 -- BATTLE ROYAL

The involved participants are the seven make NXT Pros (no Lay-Cool), the seven remaining NXT Rookies (Titus O'Neil eliminated two weeks ago), and the six available Nexus members to bring the total to 20. They came back from the break with Mark Henry in the middle of a giant circle. The bell rang and Nexus collectively bailed out of the ring to watch the proceedings. Apparently Striker can make matches, but can't reinforce rules of matches. It's like Hertz taking a reservation, but being unable to deliver the actual car reserved. Anyways, the Rookies ganged up on Henry to eliminate him. Nexus then jumped Henry to beat him down. Eli Cottonwood was eliminated next and Nexus beat him down ringside. They proceeded to feed him to Skip Sheffield for a signature clothesline on the floor. NXT cut to break with Nexus standing off on the outside as the Pros challenged them to get on in the ring.

Back from break, Nexus hit the ring to escalate the fight. Otunga dumped Percy over the top rope as they started to clean house on Rookies and Pros. Barrett proceeded to dump McGillicutty out of the ring before Nexus regrouped in one corner. Rookies and Pros went after each other. Meanwhile, Riley was dumped to the floor with a big gash on the back of his head. It came down to a six on five match-up. Riley, Rhodes, Miz, Kofi, and Morrison were the remaining Pros with the entire cast of Rookies gone. Miz then eliminated Ryder, which drew complaints from Morrison. Miz tried to talk to Nexus about making them on Season One. "You're an idiot," Morrison told Miz. Nexus then slowly surrounded Miz, who decided to throw himself over the top rope.

So, it's Nexus vs. Rhodes, Morrison, and Kingston. Barrett provided instructions and a fight was on. Rhodes, the star of Season 2, then hopped onto the top turnbuckle to simply watch the proceedings as the two babyface Pros were beat down by Nexus. Cole said John Cena is watching every second of this right now. Kofi and Morrison teased spirited comebacks at various times as the beatings continued. Gabriel then kicked Morrison out of the ring after Morrison tried to hang onto the ropes. Kingston tried to fight all six Nexus members by himself, but they beat him down. Cody continued to watch in the background as Nexus simply stood over Kingston's fallen body before finally dumping him to the outside.

Cody was left alone in a corner of the ring. Nexus slowly approached him and Cody tried a handshake to Gabriel, who simply glared at him. Otunga wanted no part of a shake either. He finally approached the boss, Barrett, who instructed Nexus to beat him down too. Cody was then tossed out of the ring and the bell rang. Apparently it's not really every man for himself as Nexus was declared the winner(s).

WINNERS: Nexus in 16:00. They broke virtually every unwritten and written battle royal rule here, but the main point was accomplished reinforcing Nexus as a major force in WWE storylines. Nexus's methodical, calculating pace works very well for the group. (n/a)

[Q5 -- over-run] Post-match: Nexus hopped to the outside and beat down the Pros who were eliminated during the match. They dragged Kingston back into the ring where Barrett dropped him with his big slam finisher. Otunga then dropped Rhodes with a uranage center ring. Gabriel followed by going up top and nailing the 450 Splash on Rhodes. Striker unflinchingly entered the ring as the crowd chanted, "Nexus sucks." He asked Barrett for his reaction to the crowd chant. Barrett told Striker it's not a good idea to be in the ring them. He told Striker to back up before things get ugly.

Barrett took the mic and said they have returned to NXT as the Nexus to prove you can make a difference in WWE regardless of being labeled Rookies. He said what they're doing is part of a much, much bigger picture. Striker interrupted and asked Barrett if he's proud of what he did to Cena on Raw. Barrett said he's proud of everything he's ever done in this ring and he's proud of these men with him. "You're either Nexus or you're against us," Barrett declared. That's Biblical. They replayed the beating Nexus delivered to the Rookies and Pros tonight on NXT. Cole gave a final sales pitch for MITB on Sunday with an ominous cloud hanging over the PPV because of what Nexus is capable of.

FINAL THOUGHT: Good use of Nexus on the show to stretch out an hour of TV that barely referenced the Rookie competition aspect of NXT. No Rookie challenge, one Rookie video package, only one Rookie with mic time (Percy Watson), and only two Rookies in a non-battle royal match.

RATINGS THOUGHT: It will be very interesting to see if the Nexus hook counteracts strong counter-programming with the MLB All-Star game and MTV's series finale of The Hills and season finale of The City head-to-head with NXT. We shall see.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for an "NXT TV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on NXT, email to pwtorch@gmail.com using our Feedback form.

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